A Quick Guide to #HashTags for Business

Whether you love them or loathe them, Hashtags have become an integral part of social media engagement and are heavily ingrained in today’s online culture. However, many businesses are still unsure about the use of hashtags; do they actually serve a purpose? Is it necessary to “hashtag” every word? Here are the facts you need to know to get your business on board with the #Hashtag revolution.

Why Should You Use Hashtags?

Whether your business is trying to build followers on Instagram or Twitter, or trying to increase page likes on Facebook; engaging with the online community is a must. Hashtags can help your business reach out to a wider audience organically through the use of keywords and phrases, allowing them to discover your brand whilst searching for content and topics that they already have an interest in.

How should you use hashtags?

Since starting life on Twitter back in 2007, Hashtags have grown to become a staple of all social media sites as well as advertising and film trailers. The general rule when it comes to using hashtags to promote a business is to use them on all social media platforms you have a presence on, but to remember different rules apply depending on which platform you are using! Whilst non business users can get away with #taggingwholesentences, and sticking a hash tag in-front every word, this behaviour can be irrelative or even damaging when copied by brands.

How to use Hashtags on Twitter

Hashtags were originally introduced on Twitter to improve search visibility, allowing users to search using specific tags and find tweets sharing a common topic. These days’ hashtags are no longer obligatory when conducting a twitter search, however millions of users still choose to include them in their tweets, and with good reason. A recent study by Quicksprout found that Twitter users are 55% more likely to retweet content when at least 1 hashtag is included. However, it has also been found that when you use more than two hashtags on Twitter, your engagement drops by an average of 17 percent. Too many hashtags come across as promotional, inauthentic and spammy, so be sparing with your tags and try to stick to keywords relevant to your business.

How to use Hashtags on Instagram

Instagram on the other hand is a platform where the hashtag is king, and quantity is key. Savvy Instagram users use them A LOT. In fact, posts with 11+ hashtags get the highest engagement on Instagram.

Whilst it’s always uplifting to see your brand receive likes, it’s important to not allow this to distract you from your growth trajectory. Tagging popular words such as #love #happy #beach may boost exposure and increase likes, but it doesn’t mean that those viewing your posts are actually interested in what your brand really has to say. Being strategic and only using relevant tags and tags commonly used among your target audience will not only increase engagement and lead creation, but will give your brand a better reputation online.

How to Use Hashtags on Facebook

Hashtags have been in use on Facebook since 2013, but they just haven’t gotten the traction that they have on Twitter or Instagram. Social Media users aren’t searching hashtags on Facebook the same way they do on Twitter so they lack search value and are deemed more of a novelty item for most people #hahahalookatmeusingthiscrazylonghashtagbrb

By Zenya Smith

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